Utilitarianism

Albert Camus

“Men die and they are not happy”

Exoticism

oA phenomenon that tries to depict poverty to an extreme degree where people’s actual condition is used in order to generate:

oBeautiful reviews from a show

Profit for the network which produces the show.

Consequentialism

Works in the idea that the result is more important than the means

• E=R/M

Utilitarianism

Embraces a norm that will bring happiness to as many persons as possible.

Utilitarianism

An action can be measured best to be moral or not if and only if the said action is agreed by all or a great many people to be good.

Epicurus

Utilitarianism started in the philosophy of ______

Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill

Utilitarianism peak began in the philosophy of?

Bentham & the measured happiness

Pleasure/pain principle or Hedonistic calculus

• the path to happiness is said to be pain free & pleasure filled

• Intensity

• Duration

• Certainty/Uncertainty

• Propinquity/Remoteness

• Fecundity

• Purity

• Extent

Bentham’s Categories (7)

Intensity

•What is the intensity or level or pleasure and/or pain that the action leads to?

Duration

•What is the duration of that pleasure or pain the action creates?

Certainty/Uncertainty

 Is there a notable amount of certainty or uncertainty of pleasure or pain resulting from the action?

Propinquity/Remoteness

•How soon after the action does the pleasure or pain kick in? Is it near or far? For example, the benefits of eating healthy take a while for the benefit to kick in, in the form of a lower cholesterol level over time. But eating a cheeseburger? The pleasure is immediate.

Fecundity

How likely is the action to be followed by even more pleasure (if it’s a pleasurable act) or pain (if it’s not so pleasurable)?

Purity

•How pure or impure is the pleasure or pain after an action? As an opposite of the previous metric, this asks how likely the feeling after an action is to be followed by the exact opposite.

Extent

Number of people affected

Jeremy Bentham

The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”

Mill & the quality happiness

oThe qualitative idea of action that will bring happiness to as many people

Mill & the quality happiness

One does not want pleasure for pleasure’s sake

internal sanction

oMill was able to establish his own version of conscience, _______

Happiness

oPrinciple of utility establishes that ______ is the ultimate criterion to establish what is moral or not.